Oil Rents And Democracy In Iran 1997-2010: Re-Visiting The Rentier State Theory

Iran, negara yang kaya dengan sumber tetapi mengalami masalah sistem demokrasi yang amat teruk. Penyelidikan ini bertujuan mengkaji kesan daripada pulangan minyak terhadap demokrasi di Iran, dalam tempoh 1997 – 2010. Justeru, penulis meneliti semula teori kerajaan dan menerapkannya dalam keadaan semasa di Iran untuk menjelaskan bagaimana kekayaan atau kemewahan minyak telah membantutkan atau menghalang proses demokerasi di Iran. Satu penyelidikan kualitatif dijalankan dengan menggunakan pendekatan kajian kes dan analisis konteks. Data sekunder dikumpul daripada laporan rasmi kerajaan Iran dan juga laporan daripada pertubuhan antarabangsa yang boleh dipercayai. Dalam seksyen pertama kajian ini, terbukti bahawa Iran dapat dikategorikan sebagai negara penyewa, berdasarkan definisi teori dan keperluan utamanya. Syer perolehan atau pendapatan minyak dalam ekonomi Iran, peranan marginal daripada sistem percukaian, dan pemilikan industri minyak diketengahkan dalam konteks ini. Iran is a resource-rich country that severely suffers from a lack of democracy. The purpose of the present research is to study the effect of oil revenues on democracy in Iran from 1997 to 2010. In order to do so, the author re-visited the rentier state theory and applied it to Iran’s present condition to explain how oil wealth has hindered the democratization process in Iran. A qualitative research was conducted using the case study approach and content analysis. The secondary data was collected from official reports of the Iranian government as well as from reports of reliable international organizations. In the first section of this study it is evidenced that Iran can be categorized as a rentier state, based on the definition of the theory and its vital requirements. The share of oil income in Iran’s economy, marginal role of taxation system, and government ownership of the oil industry were highlighted in this context

Philanthropic Fundraising of Higher Education Institutions: A Review of the Malaysian and Australian Perspectives

Currently, higher education institutions are facing rapidly rising costs and limitations in governmental funding. Accordingly, higher education institutions need sustainable forms of funding to operate effectively and remain competitive. In their attempts to identify causes and initiatives, world universities have paid more attention to philanthropic support. In their effort to raise funds, many institutions have grappled with questions of why donors give and what motivates donors to give. To address these questions, scholars must consider the influence of demographic and socio-economic characteristics, as well as internal and external motivational parameters on successful giving behaviour. However, much more attention has been paid to universities in Western countries and the United States. This study aims to review the factors influencing organizational philanthropic fundraising success and to gain an understanding of factors affecting donors’ giving decisions and perceptions of giving. This work focuses on donors’ giving to Malaysian and Australian public universities

Philanthropic Fundraising of Higher Education Institutions: A Review of the Malaysian and Australian Perspectives

Currently, higher education institutions are facing rapidly rising costs and limitations in governmental funding. Accordingly, higher education institutions need sustainable forms of funding to operate effectively and remain competitive. In their attempts to identify causes and initiatives, world universities have paid more attention to philanthropic support. In their effort to raise funds, many institutions have grappled with questions of why donors give and what motivates donors to give. To address these questions, scholars must consider the influence of demographic and socio-economic characteristics, as well as internal and external motivational parameters on successful giving behaviour. However, much more attention has been paid to universities in Western countries and the United States. This study aims to review the factors influencing organizational philanthropic fundraising success and to gain an understanding of factors affecting donors’ giving decisions and perceptions of giving. This work focuses on donors’ giving to Malaysian and Australian public universities

Globalization indicators-inbound tourism relationship in the MENA region

This study examines the short- and long-run relationship between globalization indicators and inbound tourism in the Middle East and North Africa region, using data from 1995 to 2008. Panel cointegration techniques are used to analyse short- and longrun relationships. The results show that inbound tourism can promote globalization and also that integration into the global economy and society encourages tourist arrivals in the region in the short and long run. From the results, it is recommended that the region’s policy-makers should utilize the complementary association between globalization and international tourism to promote economic growth in the region. They can also utilize the tourism sector as a tool to enhance the connectivity of their economies and societies with other parts of the world

Sport facilities and sporting success in Iran: The Resource Curse Hypothesis

In recent years, the Iranian Government has increased its expenditures on sport activities. The aims of these expenditures are: first, to develop recreational sport facilities to improve public health and to use sport as an instrument of social engineering; and second, to provide elite-level facilities to build a powerful sports nation. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between government expenditures on sport facilities (GXSF) and sporting success in the oil-rich economy, Iran. Applying regression analyses to the 31 provinces, our results indicated that a higher level of GXFS was not a significant determinant of sporting success. This result may have been due to the fact that national sport resources are directed toward the inefficient provinces because of a high level of patronage behaviors among political elites and the mismanagement of sport funds. Moreover, our results suggested that provinces with larger populations, hosting more sport events and having more investment in sports by the private sector have higher levels of sporting success. The implications of these findings are discussed